After being the Studio Director for more than 12 years, Playground Games' Gavin Raeburn has stepped down from his role at the company. Fresh off the heels ofForza Horizon 5’s successful release, the studio is continuing its work on the upcomingFable 4but will be doing so under new leadership.
As first reported by Windows Central, Raeburn’s step back comes as something of a surprise given how well-receivedForza Horizon 5was just a few months ago and the studio hasn’t provided any reasons for the change or what Raeburn will be doing next. It has been confirmed, however, that Playground’s General Manager Trevor Williams will be taking over for Raeburn as the new Studio Director.
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Williams co-founded Playground Games alongside Raeburn and Ralph Fulton back in 2009, so it makes sense why he, of all people, would be the one succeeding Raeburn. It’s currently unclear if Raeburn’s departure from Playground has impacted the development of anyupcomingForza Horizon 5contentor work onFable 4, however, a statement by Microsoft’s Alan Hartman made to Windows Central says that Williams' transition to becoming Studio Director was immediate, so there wasn’t much, if any, time Playground spent without a proper director.
Playground Games surprised fans back in 2020 with the announcement that it’s working on a newFabletitle. While some were skeptical given that the studio has exclusively worked on theForza Horizonseries up to this point,the overwhelmingly positive reception thatForza Horizon 5has received since its launch in November 2021 has instilled some hope that the studio’s eye for quality will transfer from its racing franchise to the continuation of the beloved RPG series.
Now thatForza Horizon 5has been released, fans are expecting to hearmore information aboutFable 4sometime soon as it begins to shift to being the studio’s full-time priority. The project has essentially gone completely dark following its announcements having not appeared in any Xbox press events barring statements mentioning that it’s still in development here and there.
Asfans continue to wait forFable 4, they can likely expect to receive some DLC forForza Horizon 5as the franchise has received multiple DLC releases following each title’s launch and, given the success of the new game, it seems likely that Playground will want to support it for quite some time. Currently, however, there hasn’t been any announced DLC forForza Horizon 5.
Forza Horizon 5is available now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
